Going to the Hamptons
by Kate N. Golsby
Summary: I wanted to write a happy ending for season 2. I know this is kind of ridiculous and is probably corny / sappy. I think the songs I was listening to at the time really work with 'Castle' though so at least listen to them. This summary sucks, just read it.


_**Alternate ending to Season 2 Final**_

_**Castle's POV**_

Richard Castle listened from his place in front of the murder board as Demming talked to Beckett about their plans for the Memorial Day weekend and mentioned a beach house somewhere. He bowed his head in defeat as the truth of the situation began to dawn on him. Beckett had lied to him. Even worse was that she had lied so she could be with Demming. He knew from experience that the moment a woman began to lie about who she was with or what she was doing he had lost them. That is if he had ever really had their heart.

Castle acted on auto pilot for a moment when he realised she had turned back to face him. He wasn't even sure what he was saying but he knew it was a barely convincing façade. Yet Beckett bought it. That and what she had just said to excuse her deception were all he needed to know. She would only see what she wanted to see. She had just told him, as plain as day, that she thought he was in the way of her being happy with Demming. So she hadn't used those words, actually her words were more like "I just didn't want things to be…awkward now that Tom and I are together." For someone who knew her as well as he did it certainly wasn't hard to decipher the meaning behind her words.

As Beckett sat back down in her chair he realised exactly what he had to do. Richard Castle had to back off. "Actually, that makes what I have to say easier." He could do this, he just had to stay focussed and not let himself get distracted by the faint scent of cherries that caught his nose as he moved to the desk behind her. "Um, well, with my book due, I was thinking it'd be a good time for us to take a break." His chest ached as he said those words. '_You've gotta just do this, Ricky, like a bandaid, rip it off fast._'

Castle saw disbelief cross her eyes, like she didn't think he would be able to pull off the task of separating them. "A break…?" Now that he had said it he found the courage to continue with ease.

"Yeah. Well, God knows, you gotta be tired of me following you around all the time… and I really do need to get some work done. With everyone gone, I figure, why not just stay up in the Hamptons, you know? Get away from the city for a while." Beckett suddenly didn't look so confident and he hated that he was the one doing that to her, but then he had to ask himself whether he really was the one causing her uncertainty.

"Well," It looked like she was struggling to get the words out of her mouth. "For how long?" Now he was sure his words were causing her some sort of distress. Castle knew that they had been friends and Beckett wasn't one to let people in and then let them leave easily but he was just trying to do what she clearly wanted of him, besides, if she was so uncomfortable around him he had to wonder as to whether or not they really had been friends.

"For the summer, at least. I thought this would be our last case." Those words came out on the spur of the moment but he quickly realised how true they were. He wasn't coming back to the 12th Precinct, he couldn't handle it anymore. This would truly be their last case, even if he had to pretend that he would one day return until he could pry himself from the building.

Beckett suddenly looked more confused than he had ever seen her. She opened her mouth to speak but several words were fighting to come out at once so she closed it again. She repeated this process a few times. Castle noticed Ryan and Esposito coming towards them and shifted so that he was leaning away from her but they had already seen the expression on his face and the rigidity of Beckett's posture so they turned and walked in the other direction before providing an out for Castle. As if his shift had cleared her mind she spoke then. "Why?"

"I told you, to work and give you a break." His confidence was beginning to falter. He cared too much about her to watch her in the state she was in and do nothing to help her. "Look, I've gotta go. I-"

"No. That's not why you're leaving, is it?" Castle realised that he had somehow given himself away but he couldn't figure out how.

"Actually, it is…" She was giving him the look she used in interrogation, the one that made cold, hard murderers break. "Maybe not the only reason, but it's the more important one."

"Castle…" There was a warning in her voice that he wasn't used to receiving from her; it was nothing like her playful threats to shoot him, or her not so playful ones. He couldn't put his finger on it but something in her voice told him that she wouldn't settle for anything less than the truth, that she needed it. It was mixed with a desperation that broke his heart when he saw it in her eyes. "Please…" Her voice trailed off.

All the barriers he had built around his heart before speaking up were torn down in an instant and while he was frightened beyond any fear he had felt before, except when it came to Alexis, he knew he had to tell her. He hated the she had put him in this position but Castle recognised the fact that he was there now and he had to live with the consequences, besides, he was leaving soon anyway, it's not like he'd have to live with facing the humiliation everyday.

Castle leaned in close and spoke so that only she could hear his words. Taking a deep breath he began. "Do you know what it feels like to watch the one you love falling for someone else?" He gave her a moment to let it sink in before he continued. "Do you know what it feels like to give your heart to someone only to have them throw it in your face? Or to be blocked out by the one person you want to share everything about yourself with? I couldn't predict this… I never expected it to end this way but I don't know what else I can do. I used to make you smile; now the warmest response I can get out of you is the cold shoulder. You've changed the rules on me, without so much as a heads up. You won't talk to me any more and I don't even know what you're thinking half the time. When you do laugh with me you stop as soon as you start and then you clam up for the rest of the day. If I knew what it took to save us, I would give it gladly, maybe then I would be able to get rid of this irritating pain in my chest, _but I don't_. So I'm doing the next best thing. I'm the _last_ one you call these days. You've thrown me aside and I get it, you're with Demming, but _please_ don't pretend you never saw how it affected me… I'm giving us the room we both need to be happy, you with Demming, and me not having to watch you with him. We aren't the team we once were. We're not even the same people anymore. I just look in your eyes and I can see how torturous our friendship has become. I don't want that to be what you remember me for." He watched as tears began to glitter in her eyes but tore himself away before she could take his now fully exposed heart and crush it into the ground with false attempts at reconciliation. He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, the way he had on their first case before he had stolen her files and stood. "Until tomorrow, Detective." He suddenly regretted not waiting until the next day to expose everything he had just expressed. Thinking of a way to get out of going back into that room and of how he could avoid Beckett until he was safely in the Hamptons he walked to the elevator and pushed the call button.

_**Beckett's POV**_

Kate Beckett was stunned. She sat frozen to her chair as Castle sat opposite her, bearing his soul. He loved her. She hadn't realised how much she had wanted to hear those words. Her joy in that moment was overshadowed, however, by the pain of the reason he had finally told her, he was leaving. Richard Castle was conceding defeat and leaving her to be happy with another man. The thought was so far beyond anything she had ever expected him to do. Every little thing he had done over the course of their relationship began to fall into place. Of course, in the beginning it had all been for the physical attraction but she could finally see that things between them truly had changed. He had been slowly winning her heart and she had been winning his. When he finished talking she knew she was about to start to cry, she could feel the tears welling in her eyes as she realised what she had been doing the entire time she was with Demming. Castle had been in relationships but he made sure everyone knew they weren't anything serious and he kept them out of the precinct as much as he could. And there she was, rubbing his face in the relationship she had with Demming and making it clear that it was a real relationship with feelings and all.

It took a moment for Beckett to realise that Castle had kissed her and was walking away. His parting words seemed off and empty. Something in her screamed to chase him now or lose her last chance. Knowing what he had put on the line to tell her the truth of his feelings she couldn't let him leave thinking that she didn't reciprocate them. Demming was forgotten for a moment, the only man that existed in the world of Kate Beckett was standing by the elevator, preparing to leave.

In one swift movement she flew off her chair and towards the elevator. The doors had begun to close behind him as she turned the corner. Seeing her chance slipping away from her she raced down the stairwell. She followed him out of the building and slipped on to the cab seat beside him. He was unmistakably surprised to see her. As he was obviously at a loss for words, well besides the repetition of "Beckett…? What…?" she gave the driver his address. Once the cab had pulled away from the curb she turned her attention back to the still stunned Castle. He had an adorable deer-in-the-headlights look, but she pushed that thought from her mind, there was too much to address as it was.

"You don't get to leave, Castle. Not like this." He opened his mouth to protest but she pressed her finger to his lips, effectively silencing him. "You don't get to tell me that you love me and that's why you're leaving me… You've been hurting, I see that now, but I've been hurt by you. It was hard for me to see you with those other women. I didn't understand what I felt and I really didn't want to admit it when I did. I was trying to pull away from what I thought was a one sided love affair. And I may have been trying to even up the score." She no longer needed to hold her finger in place, he could speak past the lump that was forming in his throat as conflicting emotions fought for dominance. "I don't want to need you, Castle, but I do… When I saw you leaving I said to myself, 'This is wrong. What am I waiting for?' Do you know what the answer was?"

Castle nodded, unable to speak and unwilling to break contact with her, even though what he had was no more than a finger on his lips. His eyes widened as her gaze flickered to his mouth and back before returning to rest on his lips. She slipped her finger from his mouth, running it along his jaw and around to the back of his neck before whispering "Nothing" and pulling him into a passionate kiss. When they broke apart for air they were both smiling widely. When his grin faltered she felt her heart sink and asked in a slightly trembling voice, "What?"

"What about Demming?" She could hear the hesitation in his voice, as though he feared the very mention of the man's name would send her hurrying back to him leaving Castle alone.

"I'll tell him it's over when we get back to the precinct. The heart wants what it wants, after all. Luckily for you, you're exactly what mine is craving." She kissed him again.

"So where do we go from here?" Beckett knew he would follow her lead when it came to the pace of their relationship and it just made her more certain that this was what she wanted. What she needed.

"I was just thinking that the Hamptons are lovely at this time of year. I have a few days of vacation time this weekend, what do you think?" This time he pulled her into the kiss and they both lost themselves in each other until they arrived at his apartment and had to pull apart with the promise of a weekend ahead of them.

**A/N: I know, I couldn't help it. I had to write another one. **** While writing Castle's POV I was listening to 'Do You Know' / 'The Ping Pong Song' by Enrique Inglesias (at least that's what my iTunes says the song is called, my sister put it on) and when writing Beckett's I was listening to 'Cold Heart' by Schuyler Fisk. I think it's quite obvious that they really did influence what I wrote. **


End file.
